NOTEBOOK by BILL HEANEY
It was a long, long time ago. I had written a piece for this column saying that I thought that saving the Maid of the Loch was a waste of time.
And that far too much public money – admittedly there were donations from supporters – was being spent keeping afloat the dreams of a few old men (and no women).
I wrote that the Maid should be towed out into the middle of Loch Lomond and scuttled.
If day trippers or sailing enthusiasts wanted to go for as trip round the islands then they should use the transport provided by the local businesses, which operated out of Balloch and Tarbet.
The outrage was palpable from those enthusiasts, one of whom wrote a letter to the editor of a national newspaper stating that the only way they would agree to the Maid being scuttled was if I were securely tied to the mast as the ship went down.
Even keel-hauling was mentioned.
The “historic” paddle steamer, which is currently undergoing a volunteer-led multi-million pound restoration, needs public support to buy essential materials and equipment. Again.
I don’t know how many times there have been appeals for money for the Maid, but it must be hundreds when all the fund-raisers are taken into account.
As for “historic,” the paddler was only 40 years old when it finally tied up at the Balloch Pier station, which was closed down by British Rail. It’s not unique. The PS Waverley is the last seagoing paddle steamer in the world.
Now the Maid enthusiasts are putting the hat round again. A new £25,000 fundraising appeal has been launched to get the Maid of the Loch sailing once again.
The new works, according to former local businessman Iain Robertson and friends on the new board of directors, will see the restoration of the hull and paddles on the boat, which will be 80 years old next year.
By my calculation then, this means that the restoration of the Maid of the Loch has taken 40 years so far and will take maybe another 40 years and an awful lot of money to get it back in the water.
Thirty years is a long time. Back in the Seventies even when the Maid was laid off, cruising on Loch Lomond on a boat that size was a dying business.
Even a visit by the Queen, with whom I and others had a lunch on board when she came to open the Ross Priory water facility, failed to bring about a resurgence of interest.
That interest was mainly amongst revelers who went aboard the Maid for a jazz cruise or some other form of entertainment.
Even then, it cost a small fortune for a family to have a day out on her. Tickets were too expensive.
If the Maid were to be brought back today, it would cost an awful lot of money to crew her, and for staff to provide the facilities required.
Frankly, I don’t think it’s worth it and, if public money is still being given to this project, then that should stop.
We are living in the worst of times. Jobless and homeless people have taken the place of the better off families who lived and worked in West Dunbartonshire.
There were factories such as Westclox and Burroughs and Singer and Wiseman’s plus the RNTF to name but a few. Now we have people on zero hours contracts, even people who are employed by West Dunbartonshire Council are scandalously on Zero Hour contracts.
We have too many people relying on food banks, children’s school uniforms have to be subsidised. I could go on …
Jim Mitchell, industrial heritage director of the Maid, said about the cash appeal: “These funds will allow us to take the paddles to ‘as-new’ condition. The plan is for the ship to be returned to the loch with all underwater work completed. This, along with the hull work will be a major leap forward towards the Maid sailing once more.”
The vessel has been sitting at Balloch since 1981. She was pulled from the loch onto her Balloch slipway last year.
Unless the Maid lovers can find a philanthropist with the kind of money the owners of Cameron House Hotel have (and some of their clients who can afford to pay £500 a night for a room) then they should maybe do as I suggested initially. Take her out to the middle of the loch and sink her.
Everyone to their own though. Readers who can afford it and want to donate to the appeal should go to http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/maid-of-the-loch—paddle-restoration-campaign
Absolutely bang on Editor with your comments about the Maid of the Loch
The boat will be a continual drain on public funds because there is absolutely no way that it can stand commercially on its own two feet. The cost of running this vessel could never be recovered through ticket prices and cafeteria sales. Just do the math.
And so the begging bowl will go round and round and round.
Moreover, with cradle collapse a few years ago when the boat was being taken out of the water it is only through luck that the criminally negligent fiasco of hundreds of tonnes of boat falling from its cradle did not end up with corporate manslaughter being pursued. The sight of a worker scrambling for his life was a shocker.
Or what about all the electrics that had to be ripped out after well intentioned individuals undertook restoration works to sub standard specifications. You don’t hear much about that.
As a shoreside museum piece maybe, but otherwise the Maid’s time as a viable sailing vessel has come and gone. There are better things, much better things to plough public money in to. Maybe if we bought the handful of supporters who constantly go round with the begging bowl some toy train sets then they might find something else to do.
Either that or they buy some iconic Concorde engines, strap them to the side of the Maid, and fly her round the Loch on sight seeing tours.